According to Alaska Saedelaere’s subjective feelings it has been ten to twelve months since that day in April 1463 NGE when he had begun to search for Samburi Yura with the LUMINOSITY. But he is not certain of this because the Cosmocrat ship has its own time frame. As a result of their experiences on the planet Tolmar the mask bearer and the android Eroin Blitzer have become true comrades - if not friends. This trend is observed by the other androids suspiciously, and it appears to Alaska that they and also the ship’s computer DAN are beginning to show less and less cooperation towards him.

The conflict flares up days later when the LUMINOSITY reaches a galaxy that was said to once belong to the empire of Harmony (but is now desolate, with uninhabited planets), and the ship approaches a strange constellation consisting of two black holes. Between the singularities is an unstable sphere of indefinable space-time which seems to have a harmful effect on the cylindrical spaceship, because it causes an unscheduled stop. Saedelaere is convinced he will be able to find a trace of Samburi Yura here, but DAN refuses to approach any further. Therefore Saedelaere and take the sloop ROTOR-G and penetrate deeper into the sphere. Something that the two denote as degenerate Strangeness badly strains the sloop. But it turns out that Saedelaere’s Cappin fragment generates a growing zone of peace, so that continued flight is possible.

A small spaceship made of form energy is located and pulled into the ROTOR-G. Two tiny creatures emerge from the ship that looks like a giant walnut. The beings consist of a fluffy furred main body the size of a child's fist with big eyes, pointed ears and a small nose, to which is attached a long tail at whose end an anti-gravity organ sits, with the help of which the being able to move through the air. The two strangers are trusting beings. They feel especially good towards Saedelaere, because the radiation of his Cappin fragment is very pleasant for them.

Translators fail, so the Terran and the android are not informed that their two new companions come from the race of the Firibirim, who are living in several hives within the anomaly. Their names are Mel-anta-Sel (a Knowledge Seeker with black fur) and Dom-helo-Rom (an Artist with orange fur). They had taken flight to undertake something against a fleet of invaders that is disrupting the energy structure within the sphere that serves the Firibirims as food. The disorder causes the fact that the Firibirim initially all white offspring develop almost exclusively into Red Furs that belong in adulthood to the caste of command givers. Brown Firibirims responsible for all sorts of work, and Violet Firibirims that are the only ones of their race who can bear children are developing at an increasingly lesser rate.

The excitement of the little fur balls knows no bounds when the sensors of the ROTOR-G show a one hundred meter long ship, which has the shape of a log sawed off at both ends. The Firibirims know units of this type – they are the harmful invaders. A radio contact image is established. Humanoid creatures are seen. They all wear masks - just like the performers of the Cautionary Play of Tolmar.